demonTHON 2019

This past weekend I participated in demonTHON! For those that are unfamiliar, demonTHON is an annual 24-hour dance marathon where all of the money donated goes straight to the kids at Lurie Children’s Hospital in downtown Chicago. This was my first time doing demonTHON, so I was very excited to see what the event was like.​

​In my sorority, each member is required to participate in either demonTHON or Relay for Life. Last year I chose to do Relay for Life, so this year I decided to change it up. As of now I am graduating a quarter early next year, which would mean I would never get the chance to do demonTHON if I did not do it this year. I chose to do the first twelve hour shift from 7pm to 7am. Throughout the event, there was a lot of entertainment brought in to help us fight through all the urges to sit down and get tired. Some of the entertainment included a clown, a drag queen, djs, and more!

Many families also came to the event to share their story with us and explain all of the ways Lurie Children’s Hospital has helped them. Each story explained how the hospital helps make even the most stressful surgeries for children and families enjoyable. They told us how they have dogs for children to pet, provide games for them to play, and in some cases even fly in a child’s favorite celebrity for them to spend the day with! One child who had almost passed away about ten years ago had his band play for us, and they truly put on such a great show. I was so proud to be a part of an event that does so much good for so many children. In the end, demonTHON raised over 200,000 all for the kids!